This all sounds very fishy. The guy in an interview admits buying these mod kits from an EX Foxconn employee who he found from a spam email he received. Yeah, really lucky to make $130,000 from a spammer . The word on the streets say the PI is working for Foxconn trying to track down the original supplier, by shaking down this kid. The connection between the two seems rather curious. I believe there's more to this than meets the eye. The fact these items haven't been licensed for sale leaves this kid in hot water. Hope he has a good lawyer. Honestly, who would want a white iPhone anyway.

Um, the items are either counterfeit or stolen. Either way, they're not licensed for sale. Regardless whether it's Apple or not, it is illegal to sell stolen or counterfeit goods. Why do you think the music and movie industry spends so much money to prosecute piracy? Our company deals in IT stuff and we wouldn't get away with this, not for a second. Why should this guy be any different. Anyone who thinks this is ok is supporting piracy and theft. It's black and white, so to speak.....

well the white iphone 4 isnt released yet to my knowledge.
And since it has been claimed to be because of high demand.

So how can someone be selling original white iphone parts if apple did not even have enough of them to sell...
Besides arent these parts be used in warrenty related issues only at least i never seen apple selling parts.

So hence they must be stolen if original they are stolen at the original factory.
And this kind of stuff does not help the release of a white iphone.

I actually like the white iphone 4 as it was the original collor on the apple's products that got the company up again.
I am waiting for the white iphone 4 just because of that reason.

Um, the items are either counterfeit or stolen. Either way, they're not licensed for sale. Regardless whether it's Apple or not, it is illegal to sell stolen or counterfeit goods. Why do you think the music and movie industry spends so much money to prosecute piracy? Our company deals in IT stuff and we wouldn't get away with this, not for a second. Why should this guy be any different. Anyone who thinks this is ok is supporting piracy and theft. It's black and white, so to speak.....

I'm not (yet) convinced its a black and white scam,
but that uncertainty is based on some pretty generous assumptions and limited knowledge on my part.

If what you wrote in message #41 is accurate, much of my reasoning falls apart. But the gist is- a possibility that the parts could be neither stolen nor counterfeit.

"Not being licensed for sale" would surely violate contractural agreements between the suppliers and Apple, but wouldn't inherently mark something as "stolen" or "counterfeit".

The music, movie, software industries' war on "piracy" is both similar and different. They're fighting copyright infringement (this fight is a Good Thing) but the means by which they do it, by conflating infringement with "theft" and "criminal violence on the high seas" does grave disrespect to all entities involved.

When copyright is infringed by unlicensed distribution and use, the major element of "theft" would be loss of compensation from anticipated sales. By default, there is no "right to copy" for most materials outside of an amorphous notion of Fair Use, so copying without permission generally breaks the law and may violate other contractural agreements. Its not theft in the usual sense, as revenue and "exclusive right of use" are the only significant things being deprived, but I will agree with you that the Intellectual Property industries have been successful in confusing and conmingling the laws and regulations to the point where all these slanders are lumped together as one.

Re: Foxconn
Someone (almost definitely) transferred materials to third parties in violation of license and contract. If the parts in question weren't (yet) owned by Apple, and if Foxconn was compensated for this transfer, it might not have been out-and-out theft.

If Foxconn wasn't compensated, if the parts were already owned by Apple, if bribery or deception were involved (any of these, or others I may have overlooked) then I'm afraid the case is white and white after all.

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This is no different from obtaining a box of iPhone 4 months before it's release and selling it. Clearly illegal as apple never released it to the public, this kid is in deep water and will drown soon.

Ok, none of us know the exact legal mumbo jumbo involved here. For all we know Foxconn would be well within their rights to sell these parts. The guy could be buying these parts legit from Foxconn, if Foxconn aren't supposed to be selling him these parts then it's their problem not the one guy who seems to be able to do what Apple don't seem to.

I don't understand why you need to buy a new LCD and Digitizer, couldn't you just use the one's from your existing iPhone?
Also, it's not gonna have your serial number printed on the back of the iPhone, just sayin.

About a month back, I saw an ad on craigslist here in FL for a white iPhone 4 asking $1500....WTF. Looked good in pics. Apple def dropped the ball on this one, by not releasing the white version. Mr. Lam=entrepreneur.

In Bulgaria we have a saying that in English sounds something like "It's not to blame the one who is eating the pie, but the one who is giving it to the one"... I really can't believe that there would be people willing to spend 300$ on for turning their Iphone into white... vanity is something that makes people do unreasonable things... shame on you... and greeting to the boy !

This just goes to show that Apple dropped the ball with the hardware design with this iphone 4. First the antenna issue, now they can't get the white model to market, sure because of a hardware issue. I have to say that their hardware engineer suck !!!

I would like to give props to the kid. He is truly an entrepreneur and deserves to make money. CHINA, ad it's economy is built on knocking off everything. They do it all day everyday. They have been knocking off Apples parts since they could. Now its a big deal. Apple doesn't sell parts for the iPhone in the USA, they are a marketing company. The vendors that make the parts which could range well above 1000 for a single iPhone Design probably sell prototypes to companies who knock off. That's the nature of Chinese Goods. We as consumers love this. If apple was smart they would adopt a company policy of actually repairing devices. but they don't, they want you to throw it away and buy a new one. That is the Apple business plan. So if an entrepreneur comes up with a great idea and sells it and makes Apple look stupid, it is only Apples fault for thinking they "own" your iphone after it is purchased, bought and sold 10 times over. When does it stop.

Oh well, Apple should've released the white iPhone from the beginning. The Black iphone had defects so what would've been the difference between the 2? I'm sure Apple is making more money by only releasing one color phone b/c now there is one decision to make... 16GB or 32GB. They just narrowed your options making your decision, an easier one.